1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Jill Abramson doesn't record interviews thanks to almost photographic memory

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Alma, Feb 5, 2019.

  1. Alma

    Alma Well-Known Member

    That kind of shit happened for years with lots of writers. Whatever made a better story.
     
    JimmyHoward33, Hermes and RonClements like this.
  2. Hermes

    Hermes Well-Known Member

    [​IMG]

    “But sometimes he said he had 96 percent total recall, and sometimes he said he had 94 percent total recall. He could recall everything, but he could never remember what percentage recall he had.” - George Plimpton
     
    Last edited: Feb 6, 2019
  3. Hermes

    Hermes Well-Known Member

    Every time I transcribe interviews I'm reminded how much I think I know what was said to me and how far off I was.

    It makes me scared to death of ever witnessing a crime and being a witness in a trial. I'm to the point where I record, take notes and even take pictures of scenes of things I'm writing about to make sure I get details right.
     
  4. Hermes

    Hermes Well-Known Member

    I went from being paranoid in journalism school about taking out superfluous "umm's" to getting into the profession and quickly realizing there were reporters inventing entire scenes and quotes for stories.
     
  5. Junkie

    Junkie Well-Known Member

    Minus 19 more questions, it's someone most likely have heard of.
     
  6. CD Boogie

    CD Boogie Well-Known Member

    my gut reaction said it's Lupica
     
  7. clintrichardson

    clintrichardson Active Member

    In a post-game setting an assistant coach was being interviewed by two people: me and a writer both prominent and revered. I was recording the interview, he was taking notes. When his story came out, I saw that he had taken the coach's observations about the game and made it seem as if they were coming from him—and that the coach was agreeing with him.

    (FYI, this was nearly fifteen years ago. My recorded quotes didn't end up in any story, so there was no way for an observer to spot the discrepancy).

    When possible I always recorded and took paper notes, after a nightmarish incident in which I sat down to transcribe and found that my recorder had overheated in the sun and the interview was lost.
     
    sgreenwell likes this.
  8. swingline

    swingline Well-Known Member

    Paraphrase.

    Too often statements are put in quotes just to have a quote when paraphrasing is better, quicker to the point without a bunch of verbiage. I see long-established, HOF writers use setup/quote setup/quote in their stories, and it just reads like shit.

    If it's dramatic, shocking, newsworthy, then quote the shit out of it. If not, paraphrase.
     
    Tweener likes this.
  9. hondo

    hondo Well-Known Member

    Could be the Midwest Mayor of Munchkinland.
     
    BitterYoungMatador2 likes this.
  10. TwoGloves

    TwoGloves Well-Known Member

    We had a columnist years ago who would write down one or two words during an interview. Then he'd magically have full quotes in his column. A couple times while he was an NBA beat writer and flying across country I'd go to practice and get him quotes. I'd give him the quotes and the ones that appeared in his story weren't close to what I provided. He embellished the hell out of them. Sickened me.
     
  11. Michael_ Gee

    Michael_ Gee Well-Known Member

    When I first went to the Herald, our boss created a feature "The World According to Roger" in which Roger Clemens' recorded quotes were printed verbatim. They weren't like the quotes in other papers which had been cleaned up simply to make them coherent, turning 40 word salad into 10 word semi-sentences. Other papers were pissed a bit, but Clemens was super pissed. In the end, we dropped the feature because 1. It stopped being funny due to repetition and 2. Other Sox wouldn't talk to us if recorders were being used. This was a long time ago of course, and now athletes are reassured by recorders, at least in mass interview settings.
     
  12. typefitter

    typefitter Well-Known Member

    I've seen Rick Reilly strike the hand-on-the-chin pose.
     
    Doc Holliday likes this.
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page